10 hour burn times, running very smooth with more heat demand.

[Gasifier]

I am getting 10 hour burn times out of the Wood Gun and tank with no problems. With a little more heat demand this thing is doing a great job. Operator is slowly getting through learning curve. ;-P (Especially when there is less heat demand.) I have also found that placing my Ash wood on the bottom, and in a little smaller splits than I was using, and placing the pine on the top, I have had no bridging problems. The pine burned away fast and left the other wood standing there that one time. Looked like a dam garage over the nozzle. :lol: I am very happy with the long burn times because I am now working 10 hour days, but only live a few miles away. I am getting up in the morning or coming home after work to a little coals left. Or no coals once when it was closer to 11 hours, and the tank was doing it's job by taking care of the heat demand. Very nice. Thanks to all of you guys for all the information you put up in the boiler room and other forums. Very glad I went with a gasser and a storage/buffer tank. Things are working pretty nice so far. Last few nights down in the low 20s at my place, got some snow today.

I can't wait until tomorow, I will have breakfast at the parents house with about 40 other family members, should be able to eat enough food in 3 hours I think, then come home and split wood and stack wood for five hours, then eat turkey dinner, then have a few cold ones at the end of the night. I think I should sleep well that night! Happy Thanksgiving guys.

 

[Countryboy1966]

Sounds good.

I have a system I plan to share shortly (poor man's) and I often fight having a long burn time.

I've added a manual switch to cut off the blower/damper so that I can get a little extra delay so coals are still left when I get home from a 10hr work day.

Somedays this shoulder season it has gone 12-18hrs.

Sure it may not be ideal, but it works for me.

 

[muncybob]

From what I have seen just about everyone goes through a learning curve with their new wood burning device. Looks like you've found your niche for now, more learning to come when it gets to zero and below.....we are into our 3rd year and still refining things a bit from type of wood burned and how to split it to how long we can keep the boiler off and maintain usable boiler temps based on outdoor temps. Last year I finally got myself to a point where I do not need to peak in the boiler to see how the burn is doing(stack temps tell me the story now)...but I still do once in awhile
As one person put it here a while ago, wood burning is a "lifestyle" all it's own.

Looking forward to that poor man's set up!

 

[goosegunner]

One thing I have noticed since adding my 1000 gallons of storage is that my boiler is much harder to run smoke free for the first 1/2 hour to hour. Last year it was hot all the time. Even though it idled a lot every thing was hot so when you added wood it gasified very fast.

My wood also dried very much in the boiler room because it was always very warm in there.

When starting fires more often, it seems to be more fussy about burning larger pieces.

gg

 

[Gasifier]

Sounds good. I have a system I plan to share shortly (poor man’s) and I often fight having a long burn time. I’ve added a manual switch to cut off the blower/damper so that I can get a little extra delay so coals are still left when I get home from a 10hr work day. Somedays this shoulder season it has gone 12-18hrs. Sure it may not be ideal, but it works for me.

Countryboy, I burned with what I think was a nice wood stove for six years. I heated this big house with that stove even though it was not rated to do it. I could warm the house up enough when I was at home and awake, especially the basement that the stove was in, and heat this house long enough until I got home or woke up 8 hours later, all while using very, very little oil. Whatever works for us, is a nice wood system. To become heating independent, or even damn close to it, is great.

Bob,

Definetely more to learn. I took yours and other peoples advice and have gotten myself to the point already to not open the boiler door. Even though I want to see fire! :grrr: But I look at the temp gauge on the top of the boiler and the tank. That is all I need to do. When it gets real cold, things will change, and I will probably be peaking to be sure I have enough wood in there.

GG,

I hear you on that. My wood dries a little more in the basement before it goes in the boiler. I bring in enough for two to three days. I try to rotate through it so that the wood I am putting in the boiler has been in there for at least 1-1/2 days. It is generally 75 in the basement. Nice for warming the warm floors. ;-)

I hope you enjoy the company and the food and drink folks. A Happy Thanksgiving to you.

 

[jebatty]

One thing I have noticed since adding my 1000 gallons of storage is that my boiler is much harder to run smoke free for the first 1/2 hour to hour.

What I have found to efficient gasser boiler operation is 1) when firing a cold boiler (boiler water temp < 160F), fire the boiler and let it heat up to at least 160F before allowing any circulators "on" which would take hot water from the boiler; 2) when boiler has reached operating temp of >= 160F, circulator(s) can be "on" but boiler return water protection is very important. I aim for a minimum of 145-150F, higher is better.

There may be some smoke on boiler heat up because of lower operating temperatures internal to the boiler and colder water surrounding the fire tubes. Once the boiler and water heat up, the smoke disappears.

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

Also important during startup is to keep an eye on the stack temp.
If stack temp drops below 250F you can bet you have condensation going on and excessive tar forming.
Don't know the particulars of your boiler, but if you have a bypass you can open the bypass and close it again when when stack temp is over 500F
You will need to repeat this a couple times during the first 1/2 hour.

 

[stee6043]

One thing I have noticed since adding my 1000 gallons of storage is that my boiler is much harder to run smoke free for the first 1/2 hour to hour.

What I have found to efficient gasser boiler operation is 1) when firing a cold boiler (boiler water temp < 160F), fire the boiler and let it heat up to at least 160F before allowing any circulators "on" which would take hot water from the boiler; 2) when boiler has reached operating temp of >= 160F, circulator(s) can be "on" but boiler return water protection is very important. I aim for a minimum of 145-150F, higher is better.

There may be some smoke on boiler heat up because of lower operating temperatures internal to the boiler and colder water surrounding the fire tubes. Once the boiler and water heat up, the smoke disappears.

+1. I run pump on temps of 160 min as well. This definitely helps the boiler cold-start faster.

 

[muncybob]

The advantage the stack temp thermometer tells me that the water temp gauge does not is how hot the fire is burning. Water temp may be at 170 and boiler is running but if stack temp is low I know it probably needs wood....if stack temp is high I know all is OK. I measure stack temp with a $5 candy thermometer inserted into the vertical pipe just below the T running out to my chimney. Those thermometers don't read very high but I only need one that will go to 400 or so anyways.

 

[rkusek]

Amen on pump start settings. Mine starts on 165 and shuts off below 160. Makes a world of difference on getting to the clean burning stage the fastest. I start the fire with only a few very small dry splits and let them run at least 20" with bottom door open so they are red hot coals when I load it to the top. The 20-30" is perfect time to restock the wood, sweep up, etc. With just a few splits I'm not going to overheat anything either should I get sidetracked.

 

[goosegunner]

I have my controller set to start pumps at 165 and off at 160. I might try on at 170 off at 165. I also need to be more careful about wood size for start up.

gg

 

[Gasifier]

Good information guys. Thanks. I learn something everyday. My aquastat currently turns the cirulator on at 170. High operating limit on boiler is set at 190. But the boiler always turns off when thermostat on the top (towards front) of the boiler is around 182-184. Is there a difference in temperature between the back (near top) of the boiler (where the operating limit aquastat is) and the top (towards front) where the temperature gauge is? In other words, is it hotter back where the aquastat is and that is why it is shutting off even though the temperature gauge is only reading 182 or so when it turns off? Everything seems to be working great, just curious.